Get Herald RSSUndergraduates trying to remember how they woke up at the crack of dawn during high school aren't alone. Adjunct Professor of Psychology Mary Carskadon's research into high school students' level of sleep deprivation shows their learning ability is suffering from too little time under the covers.
Carskadon, who presented her findings at the National Sleep Foundation's March 4 conference on "The Role of Sleep in Memory and Learning," said high school students' biological processes are incompatible with their schedules, and that society should change to accommodate their natural sleep habits.
"The most powerful conclusion is that a full night of sleep will enhance learning," she said of her research. She warned that sleep deficiency among high school students was a "big, huge" problem.
Though high school students need an average of nine hours of sleep per night, most are getting less than seven and "are losing an opportunity for sleep to be brain food," Carskadon said.
According to a 2006 National Sleep Foundation poll, a lack of sleep causes 28 percent of high school students to sleep in class at least once a week. This poor integration of sleep in their lives is strongly associated with depressed moods, Carskadon said.
Carskadon said high schools' response to the research has been mixed. In Minneapolis, many high school districts have begun starting later and are very happy with the ensuing higher graduation rate, she said.
In Minneapolis and one of its suburbs, school districts started high school classes up to an hour later, according to the University of Minnesota's Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. That led to lower dropout rates, higher grades and fewer cases of depression.
"You can't throw sleep around," Carskadon said. "I think that, as a society, we need to be doing a better job of making sleep a priority."
During adolescence, two major biological processes push teen's natural clock later - "then comes high school, which starts earlier," Carskadon said. "As a consequence, sleep is squeezed out."
The first of these processes is the circadian rhythms - the body clock - which during adolescence is pushed "for a later timing, including sleep," she said. The other process is the sleep pressure system, which has the highest pressure when a person is awake. More mature children show a slower build-up of this pressure throughout the day, she said.
"Students who do sleep find their lives better," Carskadon said. "Somehow, they have more time because they can use their time more effectively."
Of course, she said, the problem also extends to college students, who need an average of 8.4 hours a night, since many "still have adolescent processes." To counter this, Carskadon has a simple suggestion: "Make sleep a priority."
"It's not the thing you do when you can't stay awake," she said.
The National Sleep Foundation suggests daily exposure to sun, regular exercise and avoidance of naps to promote healthy sleep.
"She's basically saying that sleep is important," said Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Christine Acebo. "I don't see how you can argue with that."
